I'm trying to find a car that sits between the cheap and disposable £25 / £30 toy cars that supermarkets / argos sell and the professional adult RC cars.

It's for Ethan, 6 and a half, main use is outside on pavements / gravel paths so needs to not break at the sniff of water like the cheap ones seem to but also needs to have a battery life of an hour or even two (dreaming?) so I can get some good time in looking at cars at shows whilst Ethan drives it around to stop him getting bored.

The trouble is any robust ones I find seem to have a max battery life of 20 minutes so even if i buy spare battery packs i'd be swapping them over all day long!

I'd rather avoid LiPo as I set my mom's lounge on fire charging a battery up a few years ago.

Or, look at the WPL stuff on eBay if you want ‘cheap but playable’, the range is huge, from early Toyota Hilux trucks, Early land cruisers, to 6wd Russian Cold War era lorries and interchangeably tracked or wheeled depending on how you feel 4x4 US army REO trucks. A lot come as kits so have entertainment factor in assembly too. I am trying to get my mum to not buy me piles of utter rubbish this year for Christmas like autobiography books I won’t read on people I don’t care for and spend the £40 on the Ural 6x6 radio truck kit and I can build it up with the numerous cheap upgrades available like servo kits, lights, sound, exhaust smoke, winches, etc..You will struggle to avoid having lipo batteries these days sadly, it’s pretty much the norm. Charge them with the correct kit and it’s fine, just like your phone, digital camera, Bluetooth speaker etc.

How good off road are these WPL cars,?Curious as the boy and I are looking at doing some slo mo rock crawling and the Maverick and TRX stuff is just a bit much for our/ my wallet ATM.

They are so-so out of the box but even if you factor in replacing the radio gear and fitting an uprated steering servo they should come in less than £100. There are loads of reviews on them, they are good for the money mainly because they are so massively upgradeable. For proper use, you’d want a decent proportional throttle control ESC (cheap) and a steering servo for your chosen model, and probably some in-tyre weights and that aught to see something that’s a lot of fun and a good looking model for very little outlay.

I should have said RTR only as a kit will just end up as another project on my to do list! :eek:

They can be bought RTR but the kits are simple assembly, we aren’t talking thousand piece fully working scale replica to the last detail or even airfix. It’s not much more complicated than putting together any large scale type toy car, certainly only an hours worth I’d say tops

I've been looking long and hard at those WPL models. I'm not sure they'll do the sort of terrain I've been looking at.But for the money, including upgrades and radio gear I might give one a shot.I don't know which one, I like them all, particularly, like rich I like the Ural truck.

I've been looking long and hard at those WPL models. I'm not sure they'll do the sort of terrain I've been looking at.But for the money, including upgrades and radio gear I might give one a shot.I don't know which one, I like them all, particularly, like rich I like the Ural truck.

You’d be surprised, they are fantastically capable. The Hilux especially. There are plenty videos of people abusing them in mud and water and all sorts online. Horses for courses, if you want proper crawling the Hilux or land cruiser would probably be the one to go for, mud plugging for me the choice would come down to the army stuff with an upgraded 2 speed gearbox.

Looking like the Hilux then. There's loads of places near where I live to go crawling, from mild to extreme.I'm curious now to see what a well modded one would be capable of.Time to sell some tat on eBay to fund a new project.

Or, look at the WPL stuff on eBay if you want ‘cheap but playable’, the range is huge, from early Toyota Hilux trucks, Early land cruisers, to 6wd Russian Cold War era lorries and interchangeably tracked or wheeled depending on how you feel 4x4 US army REO trucks. A lot come as kits so have entertainment factor in assembly too. I am trying to get my mum to not buy me piles of utter rubbish this year for Christmas like autobiography books I won’t read on people I don’t care for and spend the £40 on the Ural 6x6 radio truck kit and I can build it up with the numerous cheap upgrades available like servo kits, lights, sound, exhaust smoke, winches, etc..You will struggle to avoid having lipo batteries these days sadly, it’s pretty much the norm. Charge them with the correct kit and it’s fine, just like your phone, digital camera, Bluetooth speaker etc.

Or, look at the WPL stuff on eBay if you want ‘cheap but playable’, the range is huge, from early Toyota Hilux trucks, Early land cruisers, to 6wd Russian Cold War era lorries and interchangeably tracked or wheeled depending on how you feel 4x4 US army REO trucks. A lot come as kits so have entertainment factor in assembly too. I am trying to get my mum to not buy me piles of utter rubbish this year for Christmas like autobiography books I won’t read on people I don’t care for and spend the £40 on the Ural 6x6 radio truck kit and I can build it up with the numerous cheap upgrades available like servo kits, lights, sound, exhaust smoke, winches, etc..You will struggle to avoid having lipo batteries these days sadly, it’s pretty much the norm. Charge them with the correct kit and it’s fine, just like your phone, digital camera, Bluetooth speaker etc.

Wow that Ural looks ace, just like spintires

Maaaaaaybe only slightly a tiny bit the reason I want one. I’d love one in real life to be fair but they are damn rare in the UK.

Looking like the Hilux then. There's loads of places near where I live to go crawling, from mild to extreme.I'm curious now to see what a well modded one would be capable of.Time to sell some tat on eBay to fund a new project.